Tag: tdp chandrababu naidu

Andhra Pradesh: Sonu Sood’s Charitable Act Sees Farmer Caught in a Political Storm

A controversy has erupted around Viradulli Nageswara Rao, as the ruling YSR Congress government tries to ‘prove’ that farmers in the state are receiving benefits under various welfare schemes.

Amaravati: A charitable act by Sonu Sood has sparked a political row around the condition of farmers in Andhra Pradesh.

The actor is no stranger to Telugu audience, having made his mark in Tollywood (he received a state award for ‘Best Villain’ in the blockbuster flick Arundhati). The Mumbai-based actor has been in the news ever since the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, as he helped thousands of stranded migrant workers reach their homes by arranging chartered flights, special trains and buses.

In his latest act of charity, Sood sent a brand new tractor to a farmer family based in the drought-prone Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

A video of two minor girls pulling a plough to sow groundnut in the fields of Mahal Rajupalli village of Chittoor district went viral on social media on Sunday. The video showed Dalit farmer Viradulli Nageswara Rao ploughing his one acre of land with the help of his two daughters—Vennela and Chandana— while his wife sows the seeds in the furrows.

The issue was brought to Sood’s attention after he was tagged in a video on Twitter.


Moved by the plight of the farmer, Sood, a day after the video was posted, promised to send a pair of oxen to the family of the farmer but later changed his mind. Sharing the video, Sood said, “The family doesn’t deserve a pair of ox. They deserve a tractor. So sending you one. By evening, a tractor will be ploughing your fields. Stay blessed”.

Naidu’s tweet triggers fracas

Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is also leader of the opposition, late on Sunday tagged Sood in a tweet and said, “Spoke with @SonuSood ji & applauded him for his inspiring effort to send a tractor to Nageswara Rao’s family in Chittoor District. Moved by the plight of the family, I have decided to take care of the education of the two daughters and help them pursue their dreams.”

Sonu, in his reply, responded saying, “Thank you so much sir for all the encouraging words. Your kindness will inspire everyone to come forward and help the needy. Under your guidance millions will find a way to achieve their dreams. Keep inspiring sir. I look forward meeting you soon”.

The lull that existed until Naidu’s tweet gave way to a political storm, with the ruling YSR Congress swinging into action to ‘prove’ that the family had received several benefits from government welfare schemes. Even as the brand new Sonalika tractor, with an estimated value of Rs 8.5 lakh, rolled straight up to the doorstep of Nageswara Rao, KV Palli mandal parishad development officer (MPDO) Mohan Raju visited the village on a fact-finding mission, as instructed by district collector N. Bharath Gupta.

Later, the officer told reporters, “The media reports that the family is impoverished and could not afford to engage oxen or tractor to plough the field is absolutely false. The family voluntarily did it. I was informed that the family wanted to have the experience (of pulling the plough) as a sweet memory. The family have confessed that they never expected the issue would take such a turn”.

Chintala Ramachandra Reddy, the YSR Congress MLA representing the Piler assembly segment under which Nageswara Rao’s village falls, also took to Twitter, endorsing the MPDO’s version. The tweet listed out a slew of financial benefits the family has received under government schemes.

The government’s feverish reaction is apparently intended to present a rosy picture of the situation of farmers under the chief ministership of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The swift reaction also shows that the government is eager to prevent Naidu, who was the CM before Jagan, from capitalising on any reports of farmer distress.

But Nageswara Rao told The Wire that he is a small farmer, owning 1.85 acres of land. “I did not even cheat the government by making wrong claims…. and the benefit (tractor) which I got did not come from the government. I don’t understand why this controversy is getting flared up around me,” he lamented.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a deadly blow to his smalltime business in Madanapalli, which is 40km away from his village. “I used to make a living by earning Rs 400 a day by running a tea stall. When the lockdown was imposed, I was forced to wind up my business and return to my village to get back to cultivation,” he said. He tried to rent a tractor to sow groundnut in one acre of his land, but could not afford the Rs 2,000 demanded by the owner. Therefore, he decided to till the land manually by engaging his daughters, Nageswara Rao said.

“We did not shoot the video intentionally to draw the attention of philanthropists. Sonu Sood’s donation was just coincidental,” Nageswara Rao explained.

Oxen disappearing

Nageswara Rao said that usually, oxen were used for tilling farmlands and drawing carts to transport farm produces. But they have not had one for nearly three decades. The price of a pair of oxen ranges between Rs 1.5-Rs 2.5 lakh, said Nageswara Rao, adding that it is out of reach for small farmers like him who hardly own 2 acres of land.

Bojja Dasaradharami Reddy, the secretary general of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), explained the reason for the decreasing number of cattle in the Rayalaseema region. He said the region faces recurring drought conditions every season, which leads to an acute shortage of fodder. This has seen the near extinction of agriculture-enabled cattle in Rayalaseema, he said.

A farmer uses his oxen to till his land. Representative image. Photo: REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Farmers retain milch animals, while bulls are sold either to slaughter houses or to draw carts for transport purpose. The tractor has literally edged oxen out of agriculture, as it performs most of the functions – tilling, sowing, seeding, harvesting and threshing – which the animals were used for, Dasaradharami Reddy said.

Rao also agreed, saying the cost of owning oxen outweigh the benefits. In the Rayalaseema region, the crops of most farmers are rainfed and do not have access to agriculture. Therefore, they depend on a single crop like groundnut for the entire year.

“Agriculture operations hardly last for two months. If we want to engage oxen for two months, we will have to feed them for the whole year, which is expensive. Instead, farmers find it viable to rent tractors,”  Nageswara Rao said.

Andhra Pradesh: 3 Capitals Plan Blocked by Legislative Council, Jagan May Go the NTR Way

The chief minister may decide to abolish the upper house, emulating his rival Chandrababu Naidu’s father-in-law.

Vijayawada: A familiar roadblock has forced Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to reverse a move that his father (former CM Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR) oversaw and instead follow in the footsteps of N.T. Rama Rao, the father-in-law of his arch-rival N. Chandrababu Naidu. After the Andhra Pradesh chief minister’s plan to establish three capitals was blocked by the state’s legislative council, speculation suggests that the chief minister may decide to scrap the upper house.

Interestingly, Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, abolished the council (of the then-undivided Andhra Pradesh) during his term as the chief minister in 1985. He viewed the house, dominated by the opposition Congress, as a hurdle to pass Bills and did away with it, dubbing it unproductive.

But the Congress government, under YSR, restored the bicameral legislature in 2007. This action provided him respite from dissident party leaders, helping rehabilitate many of them in the council. YSR’s rival Chandrababu, who came to power in 2014, also decided to retain the bicameral legislature.

Left: Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy with a portrait of his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Right: Chandrababu Naidu garlanding a statue of his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao.

Like NTR, Jagan has also been facing hurdles from the upper house during the past eight months. The YSR Congress Party has a large majority in the assembly and passed a Bill to make English the medium of instruction in all government schools. This, Jagan said, would provide students from poor economic background equal opportunities with counterparts in public schools. The government also passed another Bill providing separate commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, these bills failed to get the approval of the council.

Jagan’s ambitious plan to decentralise development also hit the same roadblock. The plan includes establishing three capitals: The executive capital in Visakhapatnam in the northern coastal region, a judicial capital in Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region and the retention of Amaravati as the legislative capital.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: What Explains Jagan’s Decision to Have Three Capitals

Therefore, the YSR Congress Party leader seems to be shadowing the rhetoric employed by NTR, who was the founder of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). “Does a poor bifurcated state like Andhra Pradesh need an upper house by incurring an annual expenditure of Rs 60 crore,” the CM asked. Dropping a clear hint at scrapping the council, he observed that it abdicated its advisory role and is trying to “subvert” the people’s mandate given to his party.

Jana Sena Party leader Nadendla Manohar, however, said Jagan’s hints exhibit his intolerance to dissent that the upper house expressed on the “omissions and commissions” of his government. Manohar, who was the last assembly speaker of the undivided Andhra Pradesh state, the members of the council are experienced and supposed to keep the government on the “right track”. “But the move to scrap it is a peril for parliamentary democracy and a sign of autocratic functioning,” he told The Wire.

Naidu’s last laugh

Although Jagan swept the polls early in 2019, winning 151 out of 175 seats in the Assembly, the TDP retains a majority in the council. The 58-member council has 26 TDP members and nine YSR Congress members. There are also five members from the Progressive Democratic Front, three from the BJP, three independent and eight nominated members. Elections for four vacant seats are due.

After accusing Jagan of ‘vendetta politics‘ since he took the CM post, TDP chief Naidu saw an opportunity to strike back. With trademark ingenuity, Naidu directed council chairman Shariff Mohammed Ahmad to refer the Bill to a Select Committee for its opinion, instead of voting on it.

This was a tactical decision, seeing as the council can reject the Bill only once. If the assembly passes it a second time, it is empowered to pass the Bill, irrespective of the council’s opinion [the upper house enjoys only limited powers].

N. Chandrababu Naidu. Photo: Facebook

Thus, the TDP chief’s manoeuvre has put Jagan in a bind. Apart from hinting at the council’s abolition, the chief minister is now mulling other alternatives. These include shifting the executive capital in a phased manner through administrative GOs, beginning with the HODs; promulgating an ordinance to legitimise the Bill or waiting for the Select Committee to clear the Bill, which may take four months.

Also Read: To Combat Jagan, Is Chandrababu Naidu Siding With BJP Again?

If an ordinance is promulgated, the ball will be in the BJP’s court. Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan may send back the proposal to the assembly or refer it to the Union Ministry of Law or Home Affairs for their opinion.

BJP mounts pressure 

After allying with Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan, the BJP has ramped up efforts to increase its presence by taking up the capital issue. Technically, the discretion of locating the capital is rested with the state government. But BJP leaders claim that the role of the Union government cannot be ignored on the question of establishing the capital in Amaravati.

“The Centre, under NDA, has sanctioned educational institutes like AIIMS and an agriculture university, apart from declaringAmaravati as a heritage city and smart city. It has also released Rs 1,500 crore for infrastructure development. Therefore, we strongly make a case for the capital to remain in Amaravati only,” contends BJP MLC Somu Veerraju.

JSP chief Pawan Kalyan and BJP leaders announce their alliance in Vijayawada, January 16, 2020. Photo: PTI Photo

The capital region envisaged by the previous government is spread over the Krishna and Guntur districts. Most landowners in this area are Kammas, who have remained the backbone for the TDP since the days of NTR. With the TDP’s drubbing in the recent general elections, the BJP hopes to grow by eating into the TDP’s vote bank.

They have also expressed support for farmers, who have been agitating against the plan to decentralise the capital. Several farmers gave up more than 33,000 acres of land under a pooling for the capital. The Jagan government’s decision to unbundle the capital and take away the secretariat has caused heartburn among the farmers, many of whose lands have become unsuitable for agriculture once construction activities began.

Gali Nagaraja is a freelance journalist who writes on the two Telugu states.